Research
Hormonal
Normal physiological levels of ceramide are necessary for glucose homeostasis; inhibiting ceramide synthesis in lean mice causes glucose intolerance and insulin resistance.
While blocking ceramide helps obese mice, it can harm lean mice by causing insulin resistance, suggesting a 'Goldilocks' zone for ceramide levels.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
inhibition of de novo ceramide synthesis in lean C57BL/6J mice on a normal chow diet also led to modest glucose intolerance and insulin resistance... This may suggest that normal physiological levels of ceramide are necessary to maintain glucose homeostasis and that either increasing (as in obesity) or decreasing ceramide biosynthesis from this physiological threshold may impair glucose homeostasis.
Why this rating
Observed in lean mice, which is a different population than the primary obese models.
Source
Central role of ceramide biosynthesis in body weight regulation, energy metabolism, and the metabolic syndrome
Guang Yang et al. · American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism · 2009
DOI 10.1152/ajpendo.91014.2008
mechanism_onlyCited 294×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Inhibition of de novo ceramide biosynthesis using myriocin reduces body weight and fat mass in obese mice by increasing energy expenditure and metabolic rate, independent of food intake.Good
- Inhibition of ceramide biosynthesis improves glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in obese mice by restoring insulin signaling (Akt phosphorylation) in the liver and muscle.Good
- Elevated ceramide levels contribute to the expression of inflammatory adipokines MCP-1 and PAI-1, while TNF-alpha acts upstream of ceramide biosynthesis.Good
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